B-Chad wrote:What about Andy McPhail? He really seems to be stockpiling a nice collection of young talent in Baltimore.

Like a lot of what he's done so far, but too soon to tell whether he can pull it all together into a winning team.

What I like is how he has been able to get those bad contracts off the book w/o giving out new bad ones. He's brought in players that aren't going to be around for the long-term but kept the deals to 1 or 2 yrs and 6M/yr or less. And in doing so they could keep Roberts and I think he's going to be pretty valuable for this team when they start peaking and most of the team is still in arb.

B-Chad wrote:What about Andy McPhail? He really seems to be stockpiling a nice collection of young talent in Baltimore.

Like a lot of what he's done so far, but too soon to tell whether he can pull it all together into a winning team.

What I like is how he has been able to get those bad contracts off the book w/o giving out new bad ones. He's brought in players that aren't going to be around for the long-term but kept the deals to 1 or 2 yrs and 6M/yr or less. And in doing so they could keep Roberts and I think he's going to be pretty valuable for this team when they start peaking and most of the team is still in arb.

Whether or not they can climb the AL East mountain is another matter.

A lot of good points here and what Mcphail has done in the last few years here in Baltimore largely goes unnoticed but he certainly deserves a spot among the top 5 GM's. He just hasnt made any real mistakes, whether it is via trades or FA pickups, and that is a pretty large part of being a competent manager. But being that they are in the same division as the best professional team of all time, The New York Yankees, i highly doubt Baltimore will be able to leap them until they commit to some big time free agents in the near future.

Frenchiegangsta9 wrote:A lot of good points here and what Mcphail has done in the last few years here in Baltimore largely goes unnoticed but he certainly deserves a spot among the top 5 GM's. He just hasnt made any real mistakes, whether it is via trades or FA pickups, and that is a pretty large part of being a competent manager. But being that they are in the same division as the best professional team of all time, The New York Yankees, i highly doubt Baltimore will be able to leap them until they commit to some big time free agents in the near future.

So far he's shown the patience to not push too hard for any of these big-name FA's until his core is peaking (or at least in the majors). I'm not even sure that they need to make big moves but instead pick out these big values that are out there in FA for a team with some money to spend. Like Adam Dunn next season. almost a perfect match at 1B in the middle of all of those bats they have.

Frenchiegangsta9 wrote:A lot of good points here and what Mcphail has done in the last few years here in Baltimore largely goes unnoticed but he certainly deserves a spot among the top 5 GM's. He just hasnt made any real mistakes, whether it is via trades or FA pickups, and that is a pretty large part of being a competent manager. But being that they are in the same division as the best professional team of all time, The New York Yankees, i highly doubt Baltimore will be able to leap them until they commit to some big time free agents in the near future.

So far he's shown the patience to not push too hard for any of these big-name FA's until his core is peaking (or at least in the majors). I'm not even sure that they need to make big moves but instead pick out these big values that are out there in FA for a team with some money to spend. Like Adam Dunn next season. almost a perfect match at 1B in the middle of all of those bats they have.

I think another part of this is NOT signing big name free agents so that as they peak they can afford to pay Wieters/Jones/Reimold/Tillman/Matusz/Arietta etc. when they become arbitration eligible and ultimately free agent eligible. Signing a guy like Dunn next year to a short term deal, thus allowing his contract to come off the books before the kiddies start getting paid would seem to be key for McPhail and the Birds. Judging by the contracts he's given out thus far (or perhaps the ones he has not if you prefer look at it that way) I'd say he recognizes this. Results will be tough to come by in the AL-East as the Rays have a solid nucleus as and the Red Sox and the Yankees are who they are, premier big market teams who are now also devoted to their farm system. Add to it that the J's seem to be taking necessary steps in the right direction and the rough and tumble AL-East we see today may be nothing compared to what's to come...